Lies of P’s (2023) on what makes us human: empathy versus cruelty
Photo Courtesy of Micheal- Wikimedia Commons
Lies of P (2023) twists the classic tale of Pinocchio, as well as what we know about robots, to make us wonder what humanity truly is.
What makes us human? The hit game Lies of P (2023) created by Neowiz Studios sets out to answer this question by using the old story of Pinocchio and twisting it into an action packed soulslike that uses the players experience to answer this question.
Lies of P (2023) takes place in the city of Krat, an extremely advanced city where robots called Puppets do all the heavy lifting and labor, which allows Humanity to create art or innovate without having to worry about cleaning, cooking, and other chores that hold us back and prevent us from advancing society at a rapid pace. The puppets are made with four simple rules embedded into their code— Puppets must obey creators' (humans) commands, puppets cannot lie, puppets must protect and serve humans and the city of Krat, and the final and most important law is that puppets cannot hurt human beings.
The puppets were created by the genius inventor Geppetto, who used a special fuel source called Ergo to breathe life into his machines. You find out later in the game that this fuel source is actually just crystalized human souls that were harnessed for energy. Ergo has an adverse effect on puppets. However, the energy source causes them to gain sentience if they find something they genuinely care about.
Geppetto, being haunted by the death of his son Carlo, creates a Frankenstein version of his son using Ergo, which the game dubs as “P” or Pinocchio. You play as Pinocchio to try and save the city from a massive puppet uprising, because the embedded code was canceled out by the puppets’ awakening souls and new free will.
As Pinocchio , you interact with NPCs around the game and lie to them, which increases your humanity— a stat in this game that allows you to become a “real boy.” For example, there is an NPC that wants you to find his wife among the aftermath of the puppet rebellion and make sure that she is safe. You find out that his wife is a puppet herself and died in the riot. Upon reporting back to the NPC, he asks you if a puppet can truly feel love, which you can answer in two ways: you can tell the truth and say that they cannot feel love, crushing his soul and causing him to die, or you can lie to him and say that she really could feel love towards him, which increases your humanity. In the latter case, he would give you a reward while also surviving in the process.
Through the progression of the game and through the perspective of Pinocchio, Neowiz Studio’s answer to what makes us human is our ability to empathize with others, and our willingness to help others in their time of need through the use of lies. However, Neowiz Studios also provides a refutation, presented by a single character— Arlecchino The Blood Artist.
Arlecchino’s answer to what makes us human is our innate cruelty and sadism. Arlecchino is the first puppet in the setting to awaken and gain sentience. The first thing he does is go on a killing spree, trying to kill every human who had put him in shackles and forced him to work. He is a merciless and sadistic serial killer who will stop at nothing to shed blood and revel in it.
The Blood Artist is the foil to Pinocchio. If Pinocchio is a human trapped in a machine, then Arlecchino is a monster trapped in a machine. Arlecchino is also the main and final boss in Lies of P’s (2023) DLC Overture, where Arlecchino is presented as a tall robot adorned in a thick white coat stained in blood. He also places a human skin mask with teeth and eyes on his face and a Salvadore Dollie type mustache made of wires.
During the fight, his sadism is put on full display as he mocks you and laughs with a Joker-like exuberance. While trying to beat him, one of his quotes is: “It's the hypocrisy that I truly can’t stand… show some despair for the audience! Where’s the drama?!”
Arlecchino’s entire purpose is to prove that he is human without a shadow of a doubt through the mindless and impassioned slaughter of humans on a massive scale, and the final fight between you and him is the debate between cruelty and empathy given form.
In the end, once you overcome Arlecchino, it symbolizes the conclusion that empathy is much stronger than the idea of cruelty and sadistic glee.
The answer Lies of P (2023) gives to the question—what makes us human?—is our ability to empathize with one another, and how we can and should help each other out when put in a tough spot. Simultaneously, the game refutes the notion that humanity is defined by our unique cruelness in the world.